DiEM25 Forum Discussion Organization Tools

( The first part of this story was first published on 20 March 2016 as a DiEM25 forum comment in the Transparency Tools topic. It applies, however, to all the topics in the forum. Any readers who have ideas, tools, or methods to help with this, please contact me.)

The DiEM25 Forum, which is just starting up, already has 749 members. It already has almost 200 topics and 837 posts. In the coming months and years, these numbers will easily grow into the hundreds of thousands.

(On the day this Medium post was made, 2 April 2016, the number of members was 2172, topics was 511, and posts were 3904. That means these quantities, at that time, were growing EACH DAY by 119 members, 26 topics, and 256 posts!)

A focus of my research is studying the breakdown of communication in modern society. The “post and comment” format used ubiquitously on the web, which everyone takes for granted, has become one of the webs major disasters.

It is typically called a “landfill” model. The landfill analogy applies because most of the discussions eventually join a huge pile of old posts that are too numerous to easily process. So most of the wisdom in the posts is lost. The primary reasons that it fails are:

1. Most issues discussed are too COMPLEX for a “stream of consciousness” discussion. The result is users just focus on the latest posts.

2. Most users will not be tuned in all the time. Some may check in a few minutes a day. Others only once a week. Most users will be pulled away at times for trips or events. So they will not see what is being discussed.

3. With many users, there will be many topics and many posts for each one. No one will be able to keep up everything.

4. Users have different backgrounds and discussion styles. Some are novices on given subjects ranging to others that are experts. Some like to stir up debate. Some refuse to take the time to review past information.

5. When topics are selected that are not based on sound science, there is often a lot of misinformation presented. Even well meaning participants may have to propose a “straw man” for debate or discussion. The discussion may then run to opinion more than researched material.

The result of these variations is that most discussions cannot focus on narrow results. They wonder off topic, they get caught in arguments that have little to do with the focus topic, and they repeat the same material over and over again. If we want the DiEM25 Forum to do better than this, we need to bring in other tools and approaches to mitigate all these problems.

I have had direct experience with this. In one case, with topics related to the modern turmoil in society, a group was using a post and comment website for over 2 years when I entered the discussion. I offered to apply some new methods. In ONE MONTH, the group resolved the discussion to a single decision. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the revelation they had hoped for. In fact, the conclusion was that they didn’t have enough of the right information to ever reveal the action they were searching for. The action then turned to individual efforts to gather the needed information. They were thankful because they could have gone on for another 2 years, still not knowing they were going down a blind alley.

Here, briefly, is a general list of some tools that should be available to make the forum discussion work. I am not suggesting any specific software or services to do this. I hope other technical people will come forward and present alternatives to achieve these functional needs just as Hugo Connery has done for streaming meetings to improve efficiency. I will make suggestions as well.

a. Q&A: The post and comment, question and answer method that this post is presented on is valuable to present and {b}collect{/b} wisdom. However, it is only good for simple material or part of a complex issue. It is poor for entire complex issues, which is what we will face. (( Action: we need an auxiliary process to address involved questions with extensive background. We need a process to restrain wandering and leap-frog Q&A. ))

b. Tracking: With discussion strings that can exceed 500 comments, and dozens of sub topics, we need a way to continuously bring new people into the discussions and update members who miss blocks of the discussion. ((Action: We need a reporting process that summarizes the status of ongoing discussions; we need a dynamic problems and solutions board. We need a dynamic Questions asked vs. Questions answered board.))

c. Semi-static references: Members come in at all levels of experience. To bring novices up the learning curve quickly, we need a veritable encyclopedia of “agreed to” static references they can be referred to. “Semi-static” here means generally unchanging, like a list of definitions that apply to democracy. (( Action: need a repository of references and a process to index and reference them. ))

d. Learning: To prevent the wisdom of the Forum from being lost, the lessons learned during the Q&A process need to be identified and then saved in a structured place. The ideal approach is for the lessons learned to update the knowledge encyclopedia.

e. Coordination: What makes a team, and can bring value from having multiple members working together, is information that turns individuals into a SYSTEM. ((Action: We need semi-static plans. These are semi-static documents that are always in a place that people in the movement can find them.))

Discussion Maps

(This part of this story was adapted from an original post to the DiEM25 forum on 24 March 2016 in the Transparency Tools topic. I am now using the tool in two topics: Transparency Tools and Models of Democracy. After reading the introduction to using the tool below, you can access the current Maps using the URLs for the topics above.)

I’ve started to use a tool that will give topics a big boost in organization. This tool is a response to my first 2 suggestions:

a. Q&A: The post and comment, question and answer method that this post is presented on is valuable to present and collect wisdom. However, it is only good for simple material or part of a complex issue. It is poor for entire complex issues, which is what we will face. (( Action: we need an auxiliary process to address involved questions with extensive background. We need a process to restrain wandering and leap-frog Q&A. ))

b. Tracking: With discussion strings that can exceed 500 comments, and dozens of sub topics, we need a way to continuously bring new people into the discussions and update members who miss blocks of the discussion. ((Action: We need a reporting process that summarizes the status of ongoing discussions; we need a dynamic problems and solutions board. We need a dynamic Questions asked vs. Questions answered board.))

The tool I’m using is a program called DELIBERATORIUM provided by Professor Mark Klein from MIT. The Deliberatorium is essentially a forum post tracking tool that takes the information provided by forum users and reorganizes it in an outline to improve debates. I’ve adapted it for discussions.

If you click one of the urls listed at the beginning of this section, a page will open that says “Welcome to DiEM25. Click to start.” Click the button at the center of the heading. It will open a window with the most current MAP. The map is an outline that you can read and interact with. For security reasons, this is a moderated READ ONLY presentation. To interact with the MAP, just make posts in the forum.

Here is a brief set of instructions about how to use this program. The MAP page has a menu of view options across the top. The original page opens with a Chatroom on the left, and a Map on the right.

Chatroom

If you click on a label for a post in the chatroom list, it will open the post in a window. If you can’t see the whole post, you can click on the vertical divider line and drag it to the right so it doesn’t cover the post. If the post is partially obscured by the divider, there will be scroll bars in the post window.

When you open a post, you will notice blue highlighted text followed by a symbol that looks like two links of a chain. Each of these highlighted “snippets” have been copied into the map. If you click on the “LINK” symbol, the outline in the right panel will open up and a box will drop down attached to a heading in the outline under which the text from the post has been placed. If you close the post window using the “close button” at the top of the post window, the outline will stay open. If you choose another post and click a link there, the outline will jump to highlight that text, showing where it is in the outline.

The MAP ( outline )

The map in the right panel captures all the points highlighted in the posts organized by subject. Here are things you can do with the outline:

• If a dropdown window is open, you can close it by clicking the X at the upper left of the dropdown.
• Each line in the map is preceded by a circle that is either empty, or has one of the following symbols: +, -, ?.
• An empty circle means there are no additional levels in the outline below that heading that belong to the heading.
• A “+” symbol means there are additional levels of the outline below the heading shown. If you click the +, the outline will expand below that heading. When it expands, the + will change to a -.
• A “-“ symbol means a heading is expanded. If you click the -, it will collapse the outline below the heading.
• A “?” is used for a major heading. This program was initially designed to support debates. In that use, the “?” essentially meant a point was being presented as a question for debate.

To get information on any “item” (heading) in the outline, click on the text of that item. A box will open.

Let me use an example here to walk you through the map some. If a lot of time has passed since this story was posted, the map may have changed.

Open the Transparency Tools MAP in a browser window that is separate from the window that has this post in it so you can read this while you try things out. (Use the Transparency Tools URL at the beginning of this section.)

If the Map is closed, click on the + symbol in front of the line MAP. The outline will open all item at level 1. Look down the list and find the line “Organization Tools for coordinating DiEM25 activities”. Click the + symbol in front of that line. The outline should open and, at the time I wrote this post, show two subheadings: Software Technology and Document Records. The Software Technology line has a light bulb symbol. This is referred to as an IDEA entry. Click the + sign in front of Software Technology. Two new lines open up: Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and “We should provide live streaming of official meetings.”

To the right of (FOSS) is a symbol showing two hands, one thumb up, one thumb down. Click on the symbol and a box will open showing subheadings for thumbs up (pro) comments, and thumbs down (con) comments. In this case, there is only a thumbs up comment. If you click the text “FOSS tools”, another box will open showing the comment. If you scroll down to the lower part of the box, there is a section headed “Sources”. That shows where the comments came from. In this case, these were all made by Hugo Connery in his 20 Mar 10:44 post. Click the X at top left of the box to close it. Click the thumbs up/down symbol to close the discussion box.

Click the + on Document Records. Three subheadings open. Click the + on “Document Security”. 4 additional items open. Click the text “What document security is needed?” A box opens. This is the discussion Hugo Connery submitted about this.

Benefits of using this tracking and organizing tool

What I hope is clear from this short introduction is how the Deliberatorium approach can solve some of the communication problems I listed as a. and b. at the beginning of the post. There is another huge benefit. If you expand the outline by clicking all the + symbols, it quickly becomes clear: a. what kinds of things are missing from the discussion, both in the structure of the process itself and answering the questions that were raised; and b. where the discussion is going.

One more note. There is a help symbol in the menu at the top of the page. If you click that, a help document will open in a separate window. This covers both reading and entry of items into the program. Items like “How do I browse the map?” give a more detailed explanation of the example I presented, with pictures.